Classic

I’m in the middle of editing a particularly confusing English translation of an academic paper for publication. I usually decline work like this, but the client agreed to a generous hourly wage (it makes more sense than charging per page), so here I am, slogging it out all weekend. I hate doing work like this when the kids are home, because all I want to do is play with them and there are constant distractions.

Anyway, I had a sudden need to hear Mariah’s first album in all its Vision of Lovingestlyish glory, so I fired up the music transmogrifier and the tunes instantly flowed from my PC’s speakers… Took me back to listening to the Carpenters in my dad’s VW beetle decades ago, and I realized that there is a similar gap between musical generations – Mariah’s first album was released 24 years ago!!! Holy shit, I am old.

And now, back to the grindstone.

UPDATE #1: Let me be very specific. I keep playing one specific loop from a single song, to chase the bad English away. This one: http://youtu.be/I3_cOYvvjog?t=4m05s

UPDATE #2: Note to self – Future mashup:
“All In Your Technicolor, Blurring the Mind” by White Carey
Tracks:
http://youtu.be/I3_cOYvvjog
http://youtu.be/A3SOfRrbUMI?t=4s

UPDATE #3: Now I got myself stuck listening to Astrocreep 2000 while editing bad English and it’s not going so well..

Falling down I am a psychoholic
Erratic and sure I cannot fail
Replay slow smooth and automatic
Go easy riding danger
Yeah – two guns west I ride an instamatic
Polaroid rat crucifixion nail
Antenna down cruising in the deep red
Mouth of a demon angel

GET IT ON!
GET IT ON!
GET IT ON!
GET IT ON!

How poor are poor families in Myanmar?

Poor enough to sell their children to human trafficking rings for $50 US: Trafficker of Rose-Selling Children on Khaosan Road Arrested

The story linked above is currently displayed along an article stating that Thailand has been downgraded to the lowest level (with the worst offenders) in the US State Department’s latest report on human trafficking.

…This is a direct result of the recent reporting on slavery on Thai shrimp boats and the media tying some of the largest corporations in Thailand, the US, and the UK to human trafficking (the big NY Times article ran just yesterday). The response from some of these corporations has been promising:

Through our research and development of alternative protein sources, CPF could walk away from fishmeal. However, doing so would shift the problem to the fishing industry, which is mostly comprised of fishermen earning their living in legal ways. The products of the fishing boats involved in human trafficking and slavery will continue to be purchased by other factories, and the issues around slavery will remain unchanged.

I believe it is better to work within the system, using our buying power to eradicate slavery in the region and make fishing practices fully sustainable…

– Dhanin Chearavanont
Chairman, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Bangkok, Thailand

Excerpt from: CP Foods condemns slavery and human trafficking in fishing industry

Trash Raider

There is a fat gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) in our house that raids the kitchen trash when I leave the lid off. He runs away as soon as he hears someone approaching the kitchen, but I can hear the crumpling of the trash bag as he explores. Sometimes I leave the lid of the trash off just so I can hear him exploring…. He’s been with us for a couple years now (they apparently live 5-10 years), so I consider him a friend, but he’s still very skittish.

Although he probably just hangs around the trash to catch flies, I like to believe that he’s eating our leftovers; perhaps a tasty bit of stir fried basil-stained rice here, and a few nips of mango peelings there. I’ve yet to catch him in the act, though. Even Nam, who really hates geckos, thinks this little guy’s trash raiding habit is amusing… We call him Mr. Fatty because he’s just about the piggiest common gecko we’ve ever seen.